The present invention relates to portable cards of suitable dimensions to fit into a wallet or purse which carry a micro-processor.
Prior art methods of gaining access to the information stored on a portable card such as an identity card, payment card, credit card etc. require the use of a suitable card reader.
For conventional credit cards (charge, debit and other types of payment cards), a magnetic strip is encoded with a small amount of coded information specific to the card holder and limited to that which can be used to determine that the card is the rightful property of the person who bears it. To access this information, the card must be passed or swiped over a reading head. No other data is stored on the card, and all further transaction-related information is stored in and accessed by the card reader from a remote database. Conventionally, transaction information is printed out or presented on a display incorporated into the card reading device. Such displays are complex, expensive and often bulky, all factors limiting their wider availability.
The incorporation of data processing means and storage means into the substrate of a credit card sized card (smart card) to carry information specific to that card and or the holder is also known in the art.
Such smart cards are becoming more widely available. The storage means on such cards can be used to carry much more information than a magnetic strip. This information can be sufficiently encrypted to prevent its fraudulent alteration. Thus, in particular the card""s memory can be used to hold a monetary value, which may be accessed via an appropriate card reader. The information held in the card""s storage means can also be adjusted to take account of new transactions.
The smart card may be used as an electronic purse. Such electronic purses replace the function of cash for small purchases. However, keeping track of the contents (or value) of the electronic purse is not as easy as looking in a real purse. The card owner has to keep a mental note of the xe2x80x98cash valuexe2x80x99 remaining on the card, as displayed by the card reader at point of sale after each transaction; even if these transactions separated by days or weeks. Currently, there are no inexpensive means of displaying a card""s stored value without expensive card readers with built-in displays or monitors.
The use of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) incorporated within the structure of a Credit Card have been described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,311 describes the manufacture and use of LCDs to display the function of a multi-use credit card on the card. However, the production of such displays is a complex and expensive process, rendering it inappropriate for use in portable cards as described above except in exotic or specialized areas.
Electroluminescent devices are known in the art. For example, WO-A-90/13148 discloses an active light emitting polymer (LEP) layer sandwiched between conductive layers. Other known electroluminescent devices include phosphor-electroluminescent devices, fractoluminescent devices, chemoluminescent devices, sonoluminescent devices, bioluminescent devices etc.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a data-carrying portable card wherein the data being carried by the card may be accessed without use of a card-reading machine.
Another subsidiary aim of the present invention is to provide a card with a high-resolution display which is inexpensive enough to produce so as to allow mass production of such cards.
This invention concerns a portable card of suitable dimensions to fit into a wallet or purse which incorporates a micro-processor, connecting means for connecting the microprocessor with another device and a display means controlled by the microprocessor wherein the display means is capable of displaying text and/or images.
Such a portable card allows the display of text and/or images on the card itself thus allowing data to be accessed without the use of a card-reading machine and reducing the frequency with which a card-user must go to and use a card-reading apparatus.
Advantageously, a volume printing process, for example offset lithographic printing, may be used to lay down a very thin layer of electroluminescent material along with other functional layers, within the fabric of the portable card, in a predetermined pattern, so as to form an addressable display area.
Further objectives and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and the ensuing description.